


Autumn's Aria

by healingqilin



Series: Four Seasons, Five Songs [2]
Category: Ailee (Musician), SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Babies, Domestic, F/M, Family Feels, Family Fluff, I Tried, Light Angst, Married Couple, Married Life, i guess, istg everyone in this series is OOC except for the babies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-16 02:45:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11819607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/healingqilin/pseuds/healingqilin
Summary: The season of autumn often evokes feelings of loneliness and fear. Yejin comes to realize that those two feelings have nothing against the love she shares with her husband and her children, and the love her friends and relatives have for her and her little family.





	Autumn's Aria

**Author's Note:**

> I. Had. The Hardest. Time. Writing This. I apologize in advance if this is so messy story-wise. It was difficult for me to think up of a plot for this. My self-given prompt was "first birthday", so I just went and did the thing. I will revamp this story soon. Somehow. Though I'm proud that I finished this (before the third story to this series, which I actually started writing before this), but I'm not so proud with how it turned out. Expect minor (lol who am I kidding) misspellings and grammatical errors along the way. :/
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all enjoy reading this~

Lee Yejin had once thought that the season of autumn felt a little too eerie. Everything outside was in shades of red and brown. Everything once lush and green was either dead or dying. Heck, the very event that celebrates death and horror was held during this time.

She kept that mindset for years until her second child was born. Suddenly, the crisp autumn winds that once sent her body shuddering felt like the sweetest kiss on her cheeks that would make her flush pink. Every time she would hear the crackle of the dried leaves on the ground, it would remind her of the cute garbles her newest baby girl did. The warm palette that painted the trees all throughout Busan would only remind her of her little daughter’s lips, already stark red the moment she was brought out into the world

But as with a lot of great and beautiful moments, bad ones usually trail behind.

Lee Seeun was born six months after her sister Sejung celebrated her _dol_ , or first birthday. Unlike the time Yejin was pregnant with her first daughter, her second pregnancy brought out the notorious keyboard warriors that had gone into hiding.

 

_ I can’t believe her. That slut. She couldn’t even wait a few more years to get knocked up again. _

_ She’s probably making up for all the time she wasted being a virgin. _

_ Wait? Was she even a virgin when she got married? _

_ Woozi must be THAT good in bed. That could be the only answer to all this. _

 

Yejin had kept away from social media following her second pregnancy announcement. She was thankful at the very least for the babies keeping her hands full during most days that she wouldn’t be tempted to even look at her phone. 

Seeun’s joyous squeals snap Yejin back to reality. Her daughter has her tiny hands raised up in the sky to catch the leaves raining down. 

“Are the leaves pretty, Seeunie?” she asks her baby cradled in her arms. Seeun would be celebrating her own  _ dol _ in a few days.

A leaf manages to find its way onto one of Seeun’s hands. The fragile thing immediately crumbles into smaller pieces when Seeun squeezes her hand too hard around it, sending her into a tearful mess. 

“Aww, sweetheart. It’s okay.” Yejin hugs her daughter and leaves wet kisses on her chubby cheek. “Look up there. There’s a lot more where that came from.”

The winds howl through the trees lining the walkway in the park they are in, sending a flurry of red and orange leaves flying around. Seeun curls into a tighter ball in her mother’s arms and hides her face in the collar of Yejin’s pea coat.

“It’s getting too cold. Wanna go home now, baby?”

Yejin goes over to the flat, grassy area where Jihoon is playing mini baseball with their eldest daughter. After successfully hitting the soft ball with her plastic bat, Sejung dashes to her mother the second she catches sight of her. Jihoon follows her after retrieving the ball.

“Had fun catching the leaves?” her husband asks, almost breathless. He staggers as he saunters closer.

“We sure did. Right, Seeunie?” Yejin replies, bouncing her daughter in her arms. “I saw that, by the way. Sejungie has your athletic skills. For a two-year-old, she already has amazing hand-eye coordination.”

“I was surprised as well,” Jihoon says. “I think I’m getting old. I’m already burnt out from just catching and throwing. And recording a video of her hitting the ball.” 

Yejin laughed. “You’re not that old, dearest.” She squatted to get on eye-level with Sejung. “Did you have fun playing baseball with daddy?”

“Yes!” Sejung says.

“You played sooooo well!” Jihoon tells his daughter as he lifts her up and swings her in the air. Then he cuddles her in his arms before leaving nose kisses on her forehead. “I’m so proud of you. You’re gonna be a great baseball player if you ever decide to be one.”

Sejung doesn’t yet fully understand what her father just said but she wraps her short arms around his neck and leaves her own set of nose kisses on his jawline anyway.

“Seeunie is getting cold,” Yejin tells her husband. “We should go back home. Let’s just order take-out for dinner. Do you mind, dearest? I’m not really in the mood to cook tonight.”

“It’s fine. How does chicken sound?”

The Lee family heads to their car and sets off.

On their way to the chicken restaurant just a few blocks from their home, Sejung abruptly begins mumbling a melody in the back seat. There’s no music playing, but she’s carrying a chipper tune neither Jihoon nor Yejin have ever heard before. A minute has passed and Sejung is still sing-humming, and Seeun, being the younger sister, mimics her  _ eonni _ ’s impromptu performance.

Yejin quickly grabs her phone and starts recording her daughters on video.  As soon as she thinks she’s gotten enough footage, she reclines back in her seat.

“Do you think Seeunie will pick the microphone too, like her sister?” she asks her husband.

“During her  _ dol _ ? Maybe,” replies Jihoon as he keeps his eyes on the road. “If she does, that’s great. If she doesn’t, that’s also great. I’d be the last person to force my kids to take up something they’re not passionate about. Music is what brought you and I together. It’s what started this family we have now,” he faces his wife, “but if the girls find something else that they’ll put their heart and soul into, I have no right to keep them away from that.”

_ He truly has grown so much _ , Yejin thinks. Jihoon is really beginning to act like a great father. Just the thought of it makes Yejin bite her bottom lip to stop herself from shedding tears. Her tooth on her lip doesn’t keep her from smiling, however. She lifts the collar of her coat over her cheeks to hide her growing blush. Jihoon has changed so much after Sejung’s birth and even more so after Seeun’s. 

Among the members of Seventeen, Jihoon is one of, if not the most mature in words and actions. But because of his pretty face and petite frame, many people silently ranked him least likely to get married and have kids. It made sense to Yejin, who always used to see him as this cute child. But something happened during their friendship along the years, and she began seeing him in a different light. She didn’t know exactly what it was or remember when exactly it happened. It just happened. She never expected it, never even dreamed about it, but the person she once referred to as her ‘baby’ just suddenly appeared as a man before her eyes. And now that man is her husband and the father of her actual babies.

“That’ll get a hundred-thousand likes in less than an hour once you upload that,” Jihoon comments. “Our daughters are such huge Instagram stars that it kind of worries me. There are a lot of nasty people in the Internet.”

Yejin traces the edge of her phone with her finger. “Then I won’t upload it. I barely uploaded any photos or videos of Seeunie anyway.”

Jihoon brakes at a red light. “You can upload it if you want.” His voice is soft. “It’s your video. It’s just…we can’t avoid those kinds of people. Especially in our case. We’re former idols. We both still have fans and haters tracking our day-to-day lives. I just don’t want our kids to go through that kind of stress.”

He’s right though. As much as Yejin is proud to show off her daughters to the world, deep down as a mother, it’s a risky move, considering that she and her husband were huge celebrities. Keyboard warriors will find any miniscule thing they find wrong in a text post or a photo and will cyberbully the original posters to kingdom come. It didn’t matter much to her if the insults were directed to her or Jihoon. But to innocent children…. 

Yejin couldn’t imagine what she would do if anyone cyber-bullied her own children for just being her children.

She slips her phone back into her purse as the traffic light blinks to green. 

  
  


October 7. A year before, this was the very day Jihoon and Yejin were blessed with another beautiful and healthy daughter. They had given her the English name of  _ Aria _ , a song sung in an opera by a single voice. The couple had hoped for their second princess to grow up brave and confident, which currently aren’t the traits being shown by the birthday girl at the moment.

Seeun’s little body stiffens and her face grows red at the sight of so many people in one area. These are all just invited guests, friends and family of her parents, some of them she has already seen several times before. But the mere fact that she was surrounded by people makes her nose scrunch up and tears stream down her plump cheeks.

“Oh no! Our little Aria, it’s okay baby, don’t cry!” A foreign, non-celebrity friend of Yejin squeezes Seeun’s tiny hand in an attempt to calm her down. The woman bows profusely at Jihoon as she apologizes, to which Jihoon assures that she didn’t do anything wrong.

To stop his daughter from crying, Jihoon carries her around the party venue while the guests interact with one another. He had rented an events place that looked like a large garden with topiaries and flowery archways to fit with the theme Yejin intended:  _ Aria in Wonderland _ . Aside from the existing plants, the party planners added in more props such as papier-mâché mushrooms the size of small trees, fake white roses which the guests may ‘pluck’ from the bushes for the painting activity, and a mini croquet game for the younger guests to play. The flower patch that was originally in the garden venue even had a hidden radio somewhere to make it look like the flowers were singing.

“I don’t remember any  _ dol _ being this extravagant,” Jihoon says to his daughter. “But for you, I’ll only give you the best and whatever your heart desires.” He touches Seeun’s nose with his nose. Then he retracts abruptly. “As long as it’s within reason, of course.”

Seungcheol suddenly appears staggering before the father and daughter, out of breath and face red.

“What happened to you?” Jihoon asks his best friend.

“Sejungie…too fast…can’t…catch up…” Seungcheol manages to answer. He bends down and supports himself by holding on to his knees.

“That’s why we dressed her up as the White Rabbit,” Jihoon says coolly. “Why are you chasing after her?”

“She snatched one of the gift bottles on the reception desk,” wheezes Seungcheol. “You know, those little glass bottles with the heart-shaped candies that read ‘Eat Me’.  _ Noona _ was there, but after Sejungie ran, I told her I’d get her back.” He coughs. “I still haven’t got her back.”

“You’re getting old.”

“Don’t pretend that you didn’t get tired after playing with her for a few minutes,” Seungcheol snickers. “Your little girl is a fully-charged power bank that never runs out.  _ Noona _ told me.”

Jihoon and Seungcheol finally find Sejung standing near the butterfly house with Dareum, Jisoo’s three-year-old son. Stealthily, Seungcheol creeps towards her from behind, then swoops his goddaughter up in the air in his grasp.

“Gotcha, you pesky little bunny!”

Sejung shrieks happily and laughs when she knows that she’s been caught. 

“I’ll take this,” Seungcheol removes the glass bottle from her hand, “if you don’t mind.”

Jihoon steps closer. “Sejungie, don’t do that again, okay? Don’t just grab things and run off. Okay?” He reprimands his eldest daughter.

“’Kay,  _ appa _ ,” Sejung answers her father, eyes looking down.

Seungcheol puts her in Jihoon’s free arm.

“That’s my girl.” Jihoon leaves a peck on her white cheek.

“I think the party’s gonna start now,” Seungcheol says, holding on to Dareum’s little hand. “Let’s go before your wife realizes her family is nowhere near center stage.”

Dareum surprises Seungcheol by quietly tugging on the hem of his shirt. “Carry?” the toddler asks his godfather in English, arms raised up towards him.

“But you’re old enough to walk. Ah, whatever. Come on, big guy.” He tells himself, and he picks up his godson.

The event officially begins and the guests scramble to get pictures of the Lee family together, especially one of the birthday girl in her lovely  _ hanbok _ . It’s the typical one worn by babies on their  _ dol _ , the one with the multicolored stripes on the sleeves. But Seeun’s  _ hanbok _ was designed specifically for her and not a rented dress, being colored dominantly sky blue and white with her headpiece being gold-yellow to simulate Alice’s blonde hair. Yejin giggles to herself at the memory of Seeun being only weeks old. She couldn’t even fill in the sleeves of her hand-me-down onesie as she was smaller than Sejung. Her second baby is now a year old, with a beautiful dress that fits her body perfectly.

Yejin too is wearing a _hanbok,_ but of light crimson and white lace to look like the Queen of Hearts, while Jihoon is in a dashing suit and tie and his fringe swept back handsomely revealing his forehead. He’s carrying Sejung, looking the most adorable in a white and pink _hanbok_ with a bunny-ears headband instead of the traditional headpiece. 

As the guests take more pictures, Seungcheol lowers his camera phone just to admire the people in front of him. It’s been a few years since then, but Seungcheol mentally gives himself a pat on the back for helping his two good friends become closer romantically. Now his two closest friends are married, with two beautiful girls whom Seungcheol is proud to be a godfather to. 

After the delicious lunch and the candle-blowing (done by Sejung since Seeun didn’t know how to blow candles yet), the most anticipated moment finally arrives. Soonyoung and Wonwoo bring in the large table for the _doljabi_ ritual. Amber arranges the items on it: a ball of string, a plastic piggy bank, a story book and a fuzzy pen, a toy microphone, a toy camera, and a baseball. These are the same items during Sejung’s _dol_ and the guests give their predictions that Seeun will also choose the toy microphone as her older sister did.

Yejin sits her daughter on the table and lightly urges her to go and pick something up. Dozens of camera clicks follow the excitement of watching Seeun look at the items before her. The baby reaches out to her right, where the book and the piggy bank are. Her fingers almost graze the surface of the piggy bank until Seeun pulls back at the sound of someone squealing. 

“She’s going to cry again!” Seeun’s maternal grandmother exclaims.

Seeun does start crying. Again. Her parents and the guests laugh at the sudden turn of events which they should have expected knowing how sensitive the little birthday girl is.

“She was going to get the piggy bank,” says Mingyu. “Will that count?”

The other members of Seventeen playfully chide him, telling it him it doesn’t since she has to really hold the object in her hands.

Yejin comforts Seeun and sits her on the table once more. Jihoon steps in front of the table to push the items closer to his daughter.

It takes a while, but Seeun lays her hand atop one of the objects and grabs it with her other hand to examine it. Her family and her guests cheer on her for her decision softly, knowing that if they raise their voices, she’d cry again. 

“It’d be funny if she became an idol like her parents when she’s older,” says Hansol, leaning against Seungkwan.

“Nah, I think she’ll be an emcee. Wouldn’t you agree,  _ noona _ ?” Jeonghan asks Yejin.

“My shy little baby as an emcee?” Yejin wonders. “That would be nice though.”

“No, no. She’ll be an actress. Or a photographer… Or a model!” Seokmin predicts. “She picked the camera. It has to be a career closes to the object she chose.”

“Are we going to have another bet like what we did last time?” asks Chan.

“You better not,” Jihoon interjects.

“Well, no matter what happens, she’ll always be our Aria,” says Jisoo, gently pinching the birthday girl’s cheek.

The BooSoonSeok trio makes funny faces at Seeun while Wonwoo holds her wrists and makes her pretend to slap her honorary uncles. Chan has the toy camera and puts it in Seeun’s hands. It’s not a real camera but the buttons and light-up screen work the same way, and Seventeen’s  _ maknae _ proceeds to teach the birthday girl how to use it 

As the party goes on, Seventeen’s members and Yejin and Jihoon’s family and friends alike continue to shower Baby Seeun with more love to last a lifetime. And that’s when Yejin realizes that no matter what happens, no matter how many people hiding behind their screens hate on her or her daughter’s existence, she and Seeun will always have their large and loving support group behind them. And as long as they don’t step on anyone’s toes, that’s the only thing that matters.

  
  


Two days later while working on an EP for a client, Jihoon’s phone rings with a notification alert: an Instagram update from his wife’s account. He lets it pass to save it for later and continue with his work but another ring alerts. Then another. And another. More rings follow it that he loses count of how many times it lights up his phone. He puts down his headphones and opens the app.

_ aileeonline 13 new posts _

“ _ Yeobo _ , what in the world…?”

Her feed is filled with thirteen new photos and videos of Seeun from her first few weeks of life up to her first birthday. Yejin had kept these all to herself after she posted a picture of Seeun only 2 hours old. That was when the battle between congratulatory cheers and venomous slurs began. She was forced to make her account private yet even then, she hadn’t made much updates regarding her and her second child. 

Jihoon smiles brightly as he double-taps all of the newest uploads, then refreshes his wife’s profile page for the even newer ones. With every new photo or video, his heart melts at the memory of his second baby’s first words and first steps, of her first interactions with her sister, her grandparents, and uncles and aunties, and most especially the photos he’s in. 

He sends a private message to his wife after the wave of uploads stops. 

_ The world may go against you, but never shall I. Continue to be strong, my love, as I do so for you and our children. <3 _

**Author's Note:**

> As you may or may not have noticed, Chinaline isn't here. I don't hate them, I just thought it would be more realistic if they couldn't be able to attend Aria's birthday because of their schedules back in China. Honestly, while writing this, I kinda missed them. :(
> 
> Aaaaaand also, Aria looks more like her mom. Just wanted to let you all know.
> 
> The third story to this series will be posted soon! ^u^


End file.
